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Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War '''(German: Deutsch-Französischer Krieg, French: Guerre franco- allemande), often referred to in France as the War of 1870 (19 July 1870 – 19 November 1870) or in Germany as '''Great War of 1870 , was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the German States of the North German Confederation Lead by the Kingdom of Prussia . The conflict was caused by Prussian ambitions to extend German unification and French fears of the shift in the European balance of power that would result if the Prussians succeeded. Some historians argue that the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismark deliberately provoked a French attack in order to draw the independent southern German states - Baden , Wurttemberg , Bavaria and Hesse -Darmstadt into an alliance with the North German Confederation dominated by Prussia, while others contend that Bismarck did not plan anything and merely exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. None, however, dispute the fact that von Bismarck must have recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole. In June 1870 Napoleon III had begun secretly negotiating with the King of Bavaria , Ludwig II and managed to convinced him to support France if a war was to break out between France and Prussia. By the 28 June France and Bavaria has''' '''signed a secret alliance and soon on the 12 July France and Bavaria began mobilizing against Prussia. However on the 17 July Prussia learned of Bavaria’s defection and began quickly mobilizing for war. On the 19 July the French Parliament voted to declare war on the Kingdom of Prussia as hostilities began six days later. A series of French victories in Western Germany , culminating in the Rhine Offensive which saw French forces crossed the Rhine river and the capture the Prussian Chancellor, Otto von Bismark with the German Armies significantly defeated. With the collaspe of the Prussian Armies German Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke attempted to launch a last Defensive line but was ultimatly defeated by the French at Hannover thus forcing Wilhelm I to surrender the remaining Prussian Armies to French Emperor Napoleon III. Following Wilhelm I's surrender , the Treaty of Munich was signed as France restored the Kingdom of Westphalia as Bavaria went on to forming the South German Confederation. The French victory over Prussia allowed France to become a dominent power in Europe over the course of the 1870's as the Second French Empire had expanded it's sphere of influence in Western Europe thus tiping the balance of power in Europe. Background In the 1860's Prussia had became and important rising power having defeated both Denmark and Austria as they began to influence the states of Southern Germany in order to acheve German unification which France heavly opposed. Eventually this tiped the balance of Power and already France had beocmed a rival of Prussia placing claims on German lands on the left bank of the Rhine , which obviously was opposed by Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismark refused to accept. Most German politicans also belived that the unification of Germany would be impossible without fighting a war with France as they belived that a Franco-German War was necessary to unite the German states into one Nation-State. Bismarck also knew that France should be the aggressor in the conflict to bring the southern German states to side with Prussia, hence giving Germans numerical superiority and allowing them to quickly overrun the French. He was convinced that France would not find any allies in her war against Germany for the simple reason that "France, the victor, would be a danger to everybody – Prussia to nobody," . Also already Many Germans saw France as the traditional destabilizer of Europe, and sought to weaken France to prevent further breaches of the peace. Tension started to rise as the Spanish Government offered Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen the Spanish Crown which the French opposed due to their fear of encirclement by alliance bewteen Spain and Prussia. However the Hohenzollern prince's candidacy was withdrawn under French diplomatic pressure, but the French wanted to turn the apparent diplomatic success into a clear diplomatic humiliation of Prussia by demanding that mere renunciation from Prince Leopold was no longer enough and that France required a clear, public renunciation from King Wilhelm I himself and furthermore, a public pledge to never again offer candidates for the Spanish throne. Originally despondent over his diplomatic failure, Otto von Bismarck was elated by the French overreach and quickly turned the tables on them by goading them into declaring war by releasing an altered summary of the Ems Dispatch, a telegram sent by Wilhelm I rejecting French demands. Bismarck's summary, as mistranslated by the French press Havas, made it sound as if the king had treated the French envoy in a demeaning fashion, which inflamed public opinion in France. Napoleon III also sought war, particularly as a result of the diplomatic failure, in 1866, to obtain any concessions following the Austro-Prussian War, and he believed he would win a conflict with Prussia as he wanted a war to resolve growing domestic political problems. Dispite the Diplomatic faliure with Prussia , Napoleon III belived that there was a possibility to get the Southern German States to support him in revenge for the Seven Weeks War which saw these nations support Austria against Prussia. Soon Napoleon III meet with the Bavarian King , Ludwig II personally and convinced him to support France against Prussia by saying that " Prussia seeked to exploit the German people and that Bismark would use the people of Bavaria as pawns ". Soon Ludwig would sign the Secret Frenco-Bavarian Treaty of Mutial Assistance since Prussia had forced Bavaria to sign a similar treaty. However after the French Declared war on Prussia , all the German states except Bavaria sided with Prussia resulting in Prussia declaring war on Bavaria. First Days of the War